Web Video Keyboard Nav by Fabian Köster

Navigate Netflix, the ZDF Mediathek and the ARD Mediathek entirely with the keyboard arrow keys, without reaching for the mouse — built for couch/remote-style control where a mouse is awkward.

On www.netflix.com the extension adds:

• Profile selection — ← and → move between profiles; the first profile is focused automatically on load.
• Top nav bar — ↑ from the first content row jumps to the nav bar (Home, Shows, Movies, Games, …); ← and → move across it, Enter opens a section, the search field or the profile switcher, and ↓ returns to the content.
• Home and browse grids — ↑ and ↓ move between rows (keeping your column where possible), ← and → move between titles within a row, wrapping at the edges. Works on the Shows and Movies pages too.
• Search — type in the search box, then press ↓ to drop into the results; the arrow keys follow the on-screen grid layout. ↑ from the top row returns to the search box, and Esc collapses the search box back to its magnifier icon.
• Title details — the action buttons, season picker, episode list and the “More Like This” grid are all reachable with the arrow keys.
• Dropdowns — the profile switcher, genre picker, rating flyout and season picker are arrow-navigable, with Enter to choose.

On www.zdf.de the extension adds:

• Header — ↑ from the content jumps to the header (Startseite, Kategorien, Kinder, Live & TV, Suche, Mein ZDF); ← and → move across it, Enter opens a section and keeps the focus in the header, and ↓ returns to the content.
• Hero — the “Abspielen” button is focused on load; ← and → reach the buttons beside it (“Mehr Informationen”, bookmark, rate, share).
• Content — ← and → move through a row, wrapping at its ends and scrolling side-scrolling lanes along with you; ↑ and ↓ follow the on-screen layout — down the rows of a grid, from lane to lane, and through an episode list.
• Tabs — “Folgen”, “Empfehlungen”, “Extras” and “Details” sit between the hero and the content and are reachable with ← and →.
• Search — type straight away on /suche, then press ↓ to drop into the results; ↑ from the top row returns to the search field, and Esc clears the query.
• Menus — context menus and dialogs (the cookie banner included) are arrow-navigable, with Enter to choose.

On www.ardmediathek.de the extension adds:

• Top bar — ↑ from the content jumps to the bar (Start, Live, Meine ARD, Suche, the slide-out menu); ← and → move across it, Enter opens a section and keeps the focus in the bar, and ↓ returns to the content.
• Hero — on a title page “Abspielen” is focused on load, with “Trailer” and “Merken” beside it. On the start page the hero is a slideshow: ← and → move along the current slide's buttons and, at their ends, turn to the next featured title. Its seven-second autoplay is stopped, so the selection cannot slide out from under you.
• Content — ← and → move through a row, wrapping at its ends and turning the row's own pages along with you; ↑ and ↓ follow the on-screen layout — down the rows of a grid, from row to row, and through the chip bars in between (Rubriken, the season picker, the search filters, the Live channels, the A-Z letters). Rows that have not rendered yet are reached by scrolling on until they appear.
• Search — type straight away on /suche. While ARD offers completions under the field, ↑/↓ move through them and Enter searches for one; Esc puts them away and hands focus to the bar, keeping the query, so ↓ from there reaches the results. With nothing to complete, ↓ drops into the results directly, ↑ from the top row returns to the field, and Esc clears the query.
• Slide-out menu — the menu behind the hamburger is arrow-navigable, with Enter to choose and Esc to close.
• Player — a video page does not start playing by itself (a livestream does — it is already running). It opens with the player selected, framed in white like anything else, and ↓ walks on into the rest of the page. Enter plays it fullscreen; Esc leaves fullscreen, pauses, and puts the selection back on the player. While it is playing the keys are ARD's own player's, which brings its own controls.

On all of them:

• Play — a “Play” button is focused automatically as soon as it appears, so Enter starts playback right away.
• Back and quit — Esc navigates back within the site, or closes the tab when there is nowhere left to go back to.
• Idle mouse — while the mouse is not moving, the cursor is hidden and hover events are suppressed, so keyboard navigation does not pop preview cards open under a parked pointer.
• Visible selection — the selected element is given a clear focus ring and scrolled into view.

The extension is designed so that support for additional video sites can be added as separate handlers. Free software under AGPL-3.0-only; the source is available from the project homepage linked above.